________________
THE JAINA DOCTRINE OF LIBERATION
MEANING AND NATURE OF LIBERATION
The word mokşa is derived from the Sanskrit verbal root muc which literally means 'to release', 'to set free', 'to liberate' or 'to loosen'. The term mokşa means release, freedom, liberation and emancipation.150 It is a religious concept which means ultimate release or spiritual liberation from conditioned existence or samsāra. It is also a metaphysical concept which denotes the ultimate state of supreme peace and final beatitude. In the sacred literature of India a number of synonyms of mokşa are found e.g. mukti, siddhi, nirvāņa, amṛtattva, bodhi, vimukti, viśuddhi, kaivalya, etc. Mokşa is a name of spiritual perfection, of the final goal and of the end of sufferings. He who attains mokṣa does not come again to this world and he is above good and evil and always enjoys peace that passeth understanding.
It is well known that the word nirvana is a synonym of mokşa. Nirvana means eradication of all the passions (klesas) and craving (tṛṣṇā); it also means the attainment of immortality and ultimate freedom. Monier Monier-Williams explains the word nirväṇa as 'blown or put out, extinguished, calmed, quieted, tamed, lost, disappeared, blowing out, extinction of the flame of life, final emancipation from matter and reunion with the supreme spirit, absolute extinction or annihilation of individual existence or of all desires and passions, highest bliss or beatitude'. 151
In Buddhism the word nirvaṇa is employed often in connection with a burning fire or in connection with a burning lamp, and it is understood to mean extinction. According to Jainism nirvāņa denotes the final liberation (mokşa) of the self from all snares of karmas. It is not the annihilation of the self, but its rea lization in final beatitude or the blessedness. Nirvāņa implies complete separation from all those impurities which curtail and hinder the natural qualities of the self.
121
In the metaphysical sense Nirvana or mokṣa is the state of the essence of pure consciousness. It is the realization of the self by the self, making the self free from all types of karmas. It is the cessation of whole mass of suffering, where there is neither birth nor death, nor decay, nor disease, nor contact, nor separation, nor agreeable, nor disagreeable. It is the waning out of all evils in man, the end of
150. Monier Monier-Williams, A Sanskrit-English Dictionary, pp. 834-35. 151. Ibid., p. 557.
Jain Education International 2010_03
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
